Its major finding is that 30 to 50% of the world’s food never reaches human stomachs. The lower figure isn’t anything new, but the high end is.

I’ll post further thoughts after I’ve had a chance to fully digest the report, but here are three quick thoughts:

1. Mechanical engineers did this study. That’s not at all a bad thing, but it certainly influences the proceedings. There’s more emphasis on mechanized harvesting. And true to the group’s vision of “Improving the world through engineering,” the report urges:

…engineers need to act now and promote sustainable ways to reduce waste from the farm to the supermarket and to the consumer.

2. There’s not enough emphasis on behavior change. It’s not just that engineers need to act, we all do! The report’s authors don’t imply that these are mutually exclusive, but it would be nice to see some attention paid to individuals’ agency. For example, the third major recommendation:

Governments in developed nations devise and implement policy that changes consumer expectations. These should discourage retailers from wasteful practices that lead to the rejection of food on the basis of cosmetic characteristics, and losses in the home due to excessive purchasing by consumers.

Sure, that could work. But another idea would be to encourage stores and consumers voluntarily make these changes. Not just to wait for government policy to prompt action.

Just got a good explanation from Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy, Environment and Climate Change at IMechE, he wrote to me:

“Our research was indeed a combination of review and expert assessment, we did not collect any new data. What we did do is present them with a holistic international perspective and in form highly accessible to the non-expert general public reader. Our aim was to raise this issue in the public consciousness, begin a discussion and call on politicians to put it higher on their agenda.”